


One Night in Goodneighbor

by digitalduckie



Series: Falloutverse: The Man in Black [2]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Injury Recovery, One Night Stands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-31 14:18:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13976898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/digitalduckie/pseuds/digitalduckie
Summary: If they have to stay a night in Goodneighbor, Royce decides to make the best of it and Beatrice doesn't mind.





	One Night in Goodneighbor

"I appreciate you fixing up my friend's hand, Ms..."

Beatrice smiled and took the offered hand to have hers kissed. Ham was the last person to have done such a thing and she was continually grateful to find the gesture had not been entirely lost in the wastes.

"You can just call me Beatrice." She had taken her first husband's name and then her second, but now that she was solo again, she felt no surname suited her any longer. She was simply free to be herself and tied down to no one else.

"Beatrice." He wrapped the name in satin, rough yet luxurious, and a hint of a hunger that her name had never experienced before. She was entirely aware of what he was after and she wasn't sure she minded.

He was certainly younger than she was, enough perhaps to be her son. Sometimes it was difficult to determine when it came to someone who had lived their entire life on the surface rather than in a vault like she had. And though he had a rough appearance, he was confident with just the right amount of charm and familiar eyes to keep her listening.

"Since you provided your service pro bono, I have a few caps to spare if you'd like to get a drink." He wasn't a man to play chase with but he wasn't so forward to the point of vulgarity. What was one drink in handsome company?

"That would sound lovely if only I knew your name." Humor tugged at the corner of her mouth a put a glow in her cheeks, pleased she'd caught at least one of his slip-ups. Even more amused by the prospect that it was part of his game.

"Wow, I am so sorry for being rude. It wasn't my intention to forego a proper introduction." She didn't doubt it. He had already heard her name from Daisy and so asking had primarily been a formality. "Since we're on a first name basis already, you can call me Royce."

"Well, Royce, I know a couple of spots at the bar in the Third Rail that are comfy and, most importantly, I know how to get good service out of Charlie."

"That makes you extremely valuable company." He flashed a toothy smile and offered his arm which she took the entire way to the bar.

\--------

The Rexford was perhaps one of the nicest hotels Royce had ever seen still in operation. The lobby was large and grand, the staff plentiful if not colorful, and each room, from what he could discern, had a proper bed and couch each. The one drawback was that it was still in Goodneighbor and thus its patrons were not always the most courteous, slamming doors and having arguments even in the early hours of the day. As he stared at the ceiling above the bed, his greatest pleasure was in knowing that he and his partner had returned the favor with their own festivities the night before.

It was fair enough. If they had kept their neighbors up late into the night, then their neighbors wouldn't let them sleep in either. Except Beatrice appeared to be sleeping rather soundly, curled up against his side, one hand tucked under her chin and another on his chest. She was not been as inexperienced in bed as she appeared to be with her gun when he'd first seen her at the library. But then, he knew the two were entirely unrelated factors and a woman her age was very rarely a blank slate.

He smiled thinking of it, of the way life twisted and turned and how a stranger at the library could end up your nurse and later company. But nonetheless to have seen her twice now was, in his mind, coincidence and he doubted he'd see her again beyond this morning. He knew how he had come to this point, the efforts he had put in, but who knew what it had taken to put her here.

Tenderly, he brought her hand to his lips for a kiss before he peeled himself from her grasp to sit up on the edge of the mattress as he began to redress. Perhaps it was cold, bailing without a farewell. Rude, really. But as much as he valued manners, he was also not in the business of providing any indication that this had been more than what it was.

She had kept her secrets, dodging many questions about what her life had been like, what brought her to Goodneighbor and what sort of things she was good, or not so good at, and responded vaguely in most cases. She was no more interested in his heart than he was hers. And so, as with all of his partners, he kept it firmly to himself.

Contrary to the other guests, he was considerate of the door and even denied his gaze the treasured peeps between the cracks in the walls to other rooms. Less considerate was finding his current traveling companion and recent victim sleeping in an oversized chair in the lobby. His head was tilted back over the edge and mouth gaping wide as he wheezed his way through the morning. Surely it put out the staff to have had Redeye free loading and though Ms Hutchins assured Royce that the music man had spent plenty on the chem business the hotel ran on the side, he left a tip for their tolerance.

"Russell." And when he didn't wake, Royce leaned down, put his mouth right to Redeye's ear, and tried again, louder. "Russell!"

Redeye jerked awake, head snapping upright and arms involuntarily flailing as he oriented himself. Royce watched the scene patient and bemused as Redeye ran his good hand down his face. "Shit... I feel like I got charged by a mirelurk."

"Rule 1 is to never use your own product." Royce advised with a shrug. "Though I suppose buying it from someone else is just as well. Come on, we should be headed back."

"How come you got to sleep in a room and I was out on the street?" Redeye groused. Royce hadn't felt an obligation to let him know of his plans for the evening before, but at least he had been aware enough to have known where to wait for him. Or maybe it was just dumb luck that he'd taken shelter in the same building. More likely.

"I don't suspect the lady would have appreciated the excess company, Russell. Besides, you chose to spend your own caps elsewhere." He only had himself to blame.


End file.
